The Elven Saga
by Luca Pop
Summary: This is a fanfiction about elves. Lots of elves. If you like elves...review
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1  
  
She ran, the cold wind playing in her hair. Crack! A twig snapped somewhere near her. She turned around slowly, nothing there. All was silent, she felt a rush of hot air down her back and turned around in a flash. "Just the wind" she thought with relief, leaning against a tree and closing her tired eyes. Suddenly there was a loud, cold shriek from somewhere above: she looked up and there were two green eyes looking at her. It pounced, the girl screamed, the creature fell at her feet an arrow had pierced it's scaly chest. The girl breathed heavily and then fainted, falling slowly to the ground.  
The girl opened her eyes to see a kind face looking at her. She was in a large room with a large chandelier that was lighten by many candles and produced and unusual amount of light, it had to be magic. The girl looked around to see many windows with beautiful, wooden carvings around them. There were also many books in Elvish on a beautifully carved book shelf, and many paintings of great elf leaders all with magnificently carved golden sidings. To her far right was a large wooden door with a golden door knob shaped like a dragon's head. The door opened and a tall man with a heavy brow walked in. The girl closed her eyes and fell asleep.  
"What will we do with her?" asked the kind face.  
"We'll have to keep her here, until the army returns and we get news of these things." answered the tall man with heavy brow.  
"Sire, there is movement in the bushes." said a man with a large bow.  
"Where is Amones?" asked the king.  
"He went to investigate, Sire." answered the man with the bow.  
A man walked into the room he had black hair and a very large beard. He carried something over his shoulder and looked a little tired.  
"Amones what is that?"  
"I found it in the bushes, Sire." answered Amones. He threw it on the ground. It was wrapped in a black cloth that shined in an eerie way at the dim light of the candles that lit the room. It landed on the floor with a thud; they all looked at it, examining it.  
"What's going on?" asked a sleepy voice coming down a flight of stairs. The person who appeared at the foot of the stairs looked like he was no older than about 17. This was Laus, son of the king and prince of the wood elves.  
"I'm sorry if we awoke you Laus." apologized the woman with the kind face.  
"No problem Fajina I would of woken up anyway. "I heard some loud shrieks, coming from the forest. Don't worry father" he added seeing the rather terrified expression on his father's face"they are deep into the forest."  
"Sire you don't think that. Caios is hurt do you?" asked a stressed looking Amones.  
"They can not be harmed with the mythril." answered king Caius.  
"Maybe not physically, Caius." said a voice from the door.  
"Caios?!" everyone said looking surprised.  
"Yes, and I have interesting news." answered the man called Caios.  
"Let's hear it!" said a curious Laus.  
"We were ambushed by those evil creatures in the forest. There were at least two dozen of them, but we managed to escape." said Caios.  
"That's. interesting indeed." responded the man with the bow.  
"They are extremely powerful and very skilled in battle. They knew exactly what to do."  
"What do you mean?" asked Fajina.  
"They focused their attack only on the leaders of our group. And they left a mark in my mythril coat."  
"What!?" they all gasped. Caios turned around to reveal a large claw mark.  
"Wow!" said Laus surprised.  
The girl stirred and slowly opened her eyes. Everyone was looking at her curiously, not moving a muscle. She looked at all of them and smiled with relief.  
"Hello!" she said calmly.  
"Hello!" said Laus enthusiastically.  
"And how are you, are u feeling better?" asked Fajina looking at her.  
"Yes, thank you." the girl answered. There was a moment of silence. "Oh, I'm sorry I am Aril, daughter of the king of the High elves."  
"Nice to meet you Aril" said Caius.  
"Thank you." she said politely. "It's nice to finally meet you Caius."  
"You know the King?" asked Amones looking puzzled.  
"Of course, that is why I was in the forest." she answered like this was extremely normal. "My father sent me to warn you, that those things are back."  
"Back?!" exclaimed Laus. "You mean they were here before."  
"Yes, they were." answered Caios. "Long ago. Father told us, don't you remember Caius?"  
"Why yes, quite clearly. Our fathers banished these evil creatures many centuries ago." Caius said pointing to himself and Aril.  
"Yes that's right." said Aril. "My father told me the tale as well. I was sorry to hear that your father died in that war."  
"Yes he did." said Caius sadly.  
"But how?" asked Amones curiously.  
"It was before the dwarves discovered mythril." said Caios looking serious. "We should consider sending a messenger to the dwarves as well Caius."  
"Tomorrow, Caios we are all very tired and we have to rest our minds to plan out how we will deal with these things."  
"Wait, there is one thing I don't understand." said the man with the large bow. "Why did your father send you alone?"  
"He didn't." answered the girl looking sad. "My party got attacked; my horse was killed and my guards taken prisoner by those things."  
"If we are all done I would very much like to go to bed." said Laus yawning. "Good night!"  
"Good night everyone." said Amones, walking away.  
Caios, Caius and the man with the bow were the last to leave. Fajina led the girl to her new room and went to bed herself.  
"Well. at least we gained information." Caios finally said, shacking his head. "Good night, my brothers!"  
"Good night!"  
"What do you think Lorrius?" asked Caius turning to the man with the large bow.  
"I think we should sleep on the situation." said Lorrius smiling. "Good night, Caius! And don't worry we've fought these things before."  
"Yes, you're right." agreed Caius nodding his head. "Good night!"  
The large, beautiful room was now empty and was magically darkened when everyone left.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
The next day our Elven princess awoke to have the sun shining in her room, which made it very bright. She arose out of bed and went to the window; there she saw a huge garden, full of wondrous flowers and many fruit trees all ripe. It was amazing; many elves were watering and doing many other things to maintain the beautiful plants. There were many gardens and flowers in her world but none as beautiful as this.  
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a voice behind her.  
"Can you try knocking, next time?" she said looking surprised at Laus.  
"I'm sorry!" he said looking sorry indeed. "There's usually no one here in the morning. I like to come and look at my mother's garden."  
He looked very depressed when he said those last words about his mother. Aril walked over to him. He forced a smile and she smiled back.  
"My mother passed away, about a century ago." he said in a sad voice. "This was her room. When I was a small child I use to come in here every morning to look at the flowers with her and father. Father moved out soon after my mother died no being able to remember the memories."  
"I'm very sorry!" Aril said looking ready to cry.  
Laus walked over to the window and watched the workers in the garden. Both of them stood motionless for about three minutes looking at the garden together. Fajina came into the room to announce breakfast. They went down many sets of stairs, through many rooms to get to the dining hall. Everyone that Aril met was there along with a few younger looking elves. All of them looked up at Laus and Aril. Caius invited Aril to sit some where close to him so they can discuss the news from the High Elf King. Laus took a seat next to a young elf with shiny black hair.  
"Who's the girl?" the elf asked curiously.  
"She's the one you rescued." Laus replied.  
"Really? She looked different in the dark."  
"Of course she did stupid." said an elf across the table from Laus.  
"Oh give Braios a brake, Urias." said a girl with a golden pony tail.  
"I wasn't talking to you, Lorriana." replied Urias.  
"Would you two please stop bickering!" snapped a drow elf a little bit farther down the table.  
"Shut up!" Laus said under his breath so that only they could hear. "All of you." he added when he saw them laughing at Urias. They all went quiet.  
"So why was she in the forest yesterday?" asked Braios inquisitively.  
"She was sent to warn us of those things." Laus answered.  
"A little bit late wasn't she?" said Lorriana looking darkly at the Elven princess.  
"She was attacked." said Laus throwing Lorriana a very disgusted look. "Her companions were taken prisoners and her horse was killed."  
"Oops."  
"Yeah, big oops." said the drow also looking disgusted.  
"Uh, guys, not to be rood, but were do at the range." said Braios looking at the sun.  
They all looked at each other and gobbled all their food in a snap. They all got up to leave taking their bows to the rest of the table. Aril was sent to join them. They all got on their horses (Aril had to borrow one) and left, Braios leading. Aril noticed that they were all carrying bows and arrows. The drow, named Osirian, was also carrying a large sword with golden blades (it had blades on both sides) that were giving off an eerie black glow; drow magic no doubt. The strangest set of weapons was that of Braios. They were all wooden, including the entire sword. The arrows had myhril tips and the rest of the arrow head had strange designs carved into it. The rest had normal Elven weapons, and shield and armor.  
They finally reached their destination after about thirty minutes. It was a large flat field with grass as green as emeralds. There was a path through the grass that lead to a training range. There were many elves about Aril's age all training; some were shooting arrows others were using there weapons and some were making weapons. They all got of there horses and left them to graze.  
"Hey, Osirian!" yelled Laus drawing his sword. "I'll fight you."  
"Ok." Osirian agreed and drew his enchanted sword.  
"I'm goin' to the archery range." declared Lorriana, walking towards a set of targets that looked like winged humans. Braios and Aril followed her, Laus and Osirian already fighting as if there lives depended on it. As they drew closer to the targets, Aril noticed that they were made of marble that was shining powerfully in the sunlight. Lorriana took out her first arrow and fired at one of the targets; it went half way in. Aril looked stunned. Braios looked at her and chuckled.  
"It's not that amazing." he said smiling at Aril. "All our archers can shoot clean trough that. She was just warming up; she didn't even pull the string back all the way."  
"Can you?" she asked looking at her with large eyes.  
Braios got up and picked an arrow out of his bag; drew his bow back up to his cheek bone and let go. The arrow went through and got stuck into the ground behind the target. Aril was utterly amazed, staring at the arrow stuck into the soil. Braios gave another small chuckle and smiled. Laus and Osirian came jogging to them gaping for breath; they both fell and on there backs breathing heavily. Laus' right arm was bleeding and Osirian's as well.  
"That right slash you made really made a mark." Laus said looking at his arm. "Cut clean trough the armor."  
"Thanks!" Osirian replied still gaping for breath. "But I think yours cut deeper."  
"Well thank you." Laus said resting his head on the soft, green grass. He closed his eyes concentrating hard. His wound healed instantly. Osirian just looked at his wound and it healed. "We better go fix these arm guards."  
"In a second, just let me catch my breath." Osirian said.  
"Hey, Lorriana!" Braios yelled.  
"What?" Lorriana yelled back, coming to them.  
"Let's fight." Braios suggested. Lorriana nodded, and drew her sword that shinned like the sun.  
They went over to the spot where Laus and Osirian were fighting before, and Braios drew his sword, which had designs just like the arrow head. They faced each other and asked Aril, who had followed them, to give the signal. As soon as she said "GO!", Lorriana jumped high into the air and raised her sword over her head. She cut down and Braios defended with one his arm guard, and slashed with his wooden sword. Lorriana defended with her arm guard, still pushing into Braios with her sword. Braios jumped back and Lorriana almost fell forward. She straitened out and drew her sword up. Braios ran towards her with a tremendous amount of speed and performed a left slash, which was blocked by Lorriana. The wooden sword didn't have so much as a scratch, and was really living some marks in Lorriana's equipment.  
"Time to finish this." Braios said, preparing to run again.  
He ran towards his foe jumped over her, and performed a rotating slash which knocked Lorriana to the ground. She lay there motionless a deep mark was made in her armor (they didn't used mythril, so they wouldn't damage it). Braios looked a little unsatisfied, because he could've taken her out with that hit. Lorriana got up and staring running towards Braios, who ran towards her faster than anyone had ever seen him run. He thrust the bottom edge of his sword forward, which was met by Lorriana's sword. He stopped with a slide and jumped at the elf girl who brought her sword up to defend, but Braios' last attack had been to much for the weak sword; the top half of the sword fell to the ground and Lorriana caught the attack in her chest and was knocked to the floor on her back. The armor was broken and her chest was bleeding hard. Aril got up and Braios ran to Lorriana and touched her wound gently which was instantly healed by the elf's magic.  
The main thing learned by the Elven princess that day was that Wood Elves knew how to fight better then anyone else. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
The next day our Elven princess awoke to have the sun shining in her room, which made it very bright. She arose out of bed and went to the window; there she saw a huge garden, full of wondrous flowers and many fruit trees all ripe. It was amazing; many elves were watering and doing many other things to maintain the beautiful plants. There were many gardens and flowers in her world but none as beautiful as this.  
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said a voice behind her.  
"Can you try knocking, next time?" she said looking surprised at Laus.  
"I'm sorry!" he said looking sorry indeed. "There's usually no one here in the morning. I like to come and look at my mother's garden."  
He looked very depressed when he said those last words about his mother. Aril walked over to him. He forced a smile and she smiled back.  
"My mother passed away, about a century ago." he said in a sad voice. "This was her room. When I was a small child I use to come in here every morning to look at the flowers with her and father. Father moved out soon after my mother died no being able to remember the memories."  
"I'm very sorry!" Aril said looking ready to cry.  
Laus walked over to the window and watched the workers in the garden. Both of them stood motionless for about three minutes looking at the garden together. Fajina came into the room to announce breakfast. They went down many sets of stairs, through many rooms to get to the dining hall. Everyone that Aril met was there along with a few younger looking elves. All of them looked up at Laus and Aril. Caius invited Aril to sit some where close to him so they can discuss the news from the High Elf King. Laus took a seat next to a young elf with shiny black hair.  
"Who's the girl?" the elf asked curiously.  
"She's the one you rescued." Laus replied.  
"Really? She looked different in the dark."  
"Of course she did stupid." said an elf across the table from Laus.  
"Oh give Braios a brake, Urias." said a girl with a golden pony tail.  
"I wasn't talking to you, Lorriana." replied Urias.  
"Would you two please stop bickering!" snapped a drow elf a little bit farther down the table.  
"Shut up!" Laus said under his breath so that only they could hear. "All of you." he added when he saw them laughing at Urias. They all went quiet.  
"So why was she in the forest yesterday?" asked Braios inquisitively.  
"She was sent to warn us of those things." Laus answered.  
"A little bit late wasn't she?" said Lorriana looking darkly at the Elven princess.  
"She was attacked." said Laus throwing Lorriana a very disgusted look. "Her companions were taken prisoners and her horse was killed."  
"Oops."  
"Yeah, big oops." said the drow also looking disgusted.  
"Uh, guys, not to be rood, but were do at the range." said Braios looking at the sun.  
They all looked at each other and gobbled all their food in a snap. They all got up to leave taking their bows to the rest of the table. Aril was sent to join them. They all got on their horses (Aril had to borrow one) and left, Braios leading. Aril noticed that they were all carrying bows and arrows. The drow, named Osirian, was also carrying a large sword with golden blades (it had blades on both sides) that were giving off an eerie black glow; drow magic no doubt. The strangest set of weapons was that of Braios. They were all wooden, including the entire sword. The arrows had myhril tips and the rest of the arrow head had strange designs carved into it. The rest had normal Elven weapons, and shield and armor.  
They finally reached their destination after about thirty minutes. It was a large flat field with grass as green as emeralds. There was a path through the grass that lead to a training range. There were many elves about Aril's age all training; some were shooting arrows others were using there weapons and some were making weapons. They all got of there horses and left them to graze.  
"Hey, Osirian!" yelled Laus drawing his sword. "I'll fight you."  
"Ok." Osirian agreed and drew his enchanted sword.  
"I'm goin' to the archery range." declared Lorriana, walking towards a set of targets that looked like winged humans. Braios and Aril followed her, Laus and Osirian already fighting as if there lives depended on it. As they drew closer to the targets, Aril noticed that they were made of marble that was shining powerfully in the sunlight. Lorriana took out her first arrow and fired at one of the targets; it went half way in. Aril looked stunned. Braios looked at her and chuckled.  
"It's not that amazing." he said smiling at Aril. "All our archers can shoot clean trough that. She was just warming up; she didn't even pull the string back all the way."  
"Can you?" she asked looking at her with large eyes.  
Braios got up and picked an arrow out of his bag; drew his bow back up to his cheek bone and let go. The arrow went through and got stuck into the ground behind the target. Aril was utterly amazed, staring at the arrow stuck into the soil. Braios gave another small chuckle and smiled. Laus and Osirian came jogging to them gaping for breath; they both fell and on there backs breathing heavily. Laus' right arm was bleeding and Osirian's as well.  
"That right slash you made really made a mark." Laus said looking at his arm. "Cut clean trough the armor."  
"Thanks!" Osirian replied still gaping for breath. "But I think yours cut deeper."  
"Well thank you." Laus said resting his head on the soft, green grass. He closed his eyes concentrating hard. His wound healed instantly. Osirian just looked at his wound and it healed. "We better go fix these arm guards."  
"In a second, just let me catch my breath." Osirian said.  
"Hey, Lorriana!" Braios yelled.  
"What?" Lorriana yelled back, coming to them.  
"Let's fight." Braios suggested. Lorriana nodded, and drew her sword that shinned like the sun.  
They went over to the spot where Laus and Osirian were fighting before, and Braios drew his sword, which had designs just like the arrow head. They faced each other and asked Aril, who had followed them, to give the signal. As soon as she said "GO!", Lorriana jumped high into the air and raised her sword over her head. She cut down and Braios defended with one his arm guard, and slashed with his wooden sword. Lorriana defended with her arm guard, still pushing into Braios with her sword. Braios jumped back and Lorriana almost fell forward. She straitened out and drew her sword up. Braios ran towards her with a tremendous amount of speed and performed a left slash, which was blocked by Lorriana. The wooden sword didn't have so much as a scratch, and was really living some marks in Lorriana's equipment.  
"Time to finish this." Braios said, preparing to run again.  
He ran towards his foe jumped over her, and performed a rotating slash which knocked Lorriana to the ground. She lay there motionless a deep mark was made in her armor (they didn't used mythril, so they wouldn't damage it). Braios looked a little unsatisfied, because he could've taken her out with that hit. Lorriana got up and staring running towards Braios, who ran towards her faster than anyone had ever seen him run. He thrust the bottom edge of his sword forward, which was met by Lorriana's sword. He stopped with a slide and jumped at the elf girl who brought her sword up to defend, but Braios' last attack had been to much for the weak sword; the top half of the sword fell to the ground and Lorriana caught the attack in her chest and was knocked to the floor on her back. The armor was broken and her chest was bleeding hard. Aril got up and Braios ran to Lorriana and touched her wound gently which was instantly healed by the elf's magic.  
The main thing learned by the Elven princess that day was that Wood Elves knew how to fight better then anyone else. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
The young elves were all sitting around a large wooden table, laughing, eating, not one worry to bother them. Osirian had just finished making fun of Urias, when they noticed he wasn't there. They called his name, and looked at each other with raised eyebrows.  
"Wait!" said Laus. "Has anyone seen him since we got here?"  
They all shook their heads looking a little bit worried. They started looking for him in all the places he could be. No sign of him.  
"Maybe he went to the Waterfall." Braios suggested trying to be calm about his friend's disappearance.  
They all nodded, and quickly got on their horses. Aril followed looking surprised and wanting to know were their companion was. They all rode down the path they came for a brief period of time and then separated from the path through a deep forest. The forest was very beautiful; there were many beautiful song birds and various flowers that gave off a magnificent fragrance. They rode through the trees with green leaves for about a half hour, when they reached a clearance were there was a loud sound, like water falling (of course the elves had heard since they had reached the forest). In this clearance was a beautiful waterfall that fell in a large pool, and in the pool lay Urias on his back looking at the sky. They all sighed with relief.  
"You annoying little elf you had us worried crazy." yelled Lorriana.  
Urias turned his lazy eyes towards them and than returned to his position. They all looked rather stumped. No "hello", no "ha ha, you fell for it"? Something was not right. They got closer to the pool, when they all stopped dead in their tracks. Hundreds of the flying creatures were standing around the pool. Urias kept on smiling and looking at the sky.  
"You." Osirian began, drawing his large enchanted sword. Braios concentrated and a beautiful mytril sword appeared in front of him, barring the same design as the wooden one. Lorriana had another sword with many jewels on the hilt.  
"Lorriana stay back with Aril." commanded Laus, and Lorriana obeyed taking to the princess's side. "The rest of you, keep your guard up. Osirian you know what to do."  
Osirian nodded, closed his eyes and started muttering words under his breath. Laus, Lorriana, Aril and Osirian were covered in a coat of mythril. Braios had already activated his armor which not a coat but a full armor of mythril (this was obviously the use of elf magic because no fire can join mythril in that manor or create inscriptions like that on Braios' armor). The creatures had the first blow; they all shrieked and attacked the elves. Osirian made a hand gesture and pointed towards a group of the creatures which were instantly obliterated. Laus proved to be faster then anything else these things had ever seen, being barely visible he jumped and performed multiple slashes on his foes that fell to the ground being nearly cut in half. Braios slashed through his foes with tremendous ease; his sword went as far as he took it and many of the creatures were cut in half completely, vertically and horizontally. None of them got to Lorriana, who looked rather disappointed. One of the evil beings let off a loud cold shriek and they all retreated. Urias was now lying in the middle of the pond with many wounds on his chest and torso. They all seemed surprised except Osirian.  
"This is why he ignored us." the drow said. "Those things put a spell on him that made it look like he was just lying there. They must have ambushed him right after we got to the training range."  
"Oh my!" said Aril, looking exasperated. Laus pointed his finger at Urias and the wounds disappeared. The ambushed elf slowly started swimming towards them; they all met him at the shore and helped him to his feet. He looked very tired. "Th-they atta." he paused gaping for breath. "Attacked me, after we (pause) got to the range. Inserted something in me and (he looked ready to pass out) it made me t-t." he passed out. The young elves looked horror struck. They raced back to the castle, which was switched to high alert after the news was passed out that Urias was ambushed by the evil creatures. The council of the wise met in the castle, to discuss the matter; many white bearded elves were there talking silently among each other. The council came to order and the meeting began. The young heroes were watching over their wounded friend. Osirian cursed out loud. "Damn!! We can't let them get away with this, who knows what they put in 'im." They all turned their sad eyes towards the ground. Aril started crying in a corner and Braios went to comfort her. Laus concentrated and put his open hands over Urias, their eyes were closed. Urias' body started to glow strangely, and he shot out off bed looking at them with his eyes wide open. "They made me tell." he said, with a blank expression. "I don't remember what, though." "Urias?" "Who knows what secrets I exposed to them? I'm sorry!" he said putting a hand to his brow and falling on the bed. The thunder boomed outside and a terrible storm began; the wind howling, the heavy clouds shooting thunder and lightning towards the unsuspecting earth. "If the city will fall. it'll be my fault. I'm so sorry!" 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
It had been a long time since the Elves had seen any trouble. Everyone was getting ready for Kiarianos (Elvish Christmas). The small elf children were playing in the snow and the elders sitting lazily around their fire place. Laus, Braios and the other elves were walking in the snow in couples. Laus and Lorriana, Osirian and a newly arrived drow elven girl, named Staria, Urias was alone unfortunately and Braios and Aril. Braios and Aril had been going steady ever since Urias was attacked; Laus and Lorriana had been very close for a long time (it just didn't look like it); Osirian and Staria had just met a few weeks ago when the drow girl was found attacked by the creatures. Urias was hopeless, because he was too perverted and childish. Back to the story; our happy couples and Urias were walking peacefully side by side, stealing a kiss every once and awhile. Urias announced that he was going to go throw snowballs at innocent bystanders, and they all rolled their eyes and chuckled. Laus decided that they should stand by their friend and so they all had a snowball fight. This really ruined their bear fur jackets and deer skin gloves, all except the dragon hide boots (which they got from dragons that attacked their city from time to time; really expensive too).  
They all returned to the palace to dry off, laughing and not caring that they were soaking wet. They changed and decided to stay inside, in suitable clothes.  
"What are we going to do?" asked Braios. This puzzled them for a long time. Fajina came in to the room to announce dinner.  
They all went down to the dining hall where they were joined by elderly elves, dressed in long white robes and with long white hair (I found out elves don't have beards). They all went to see Caius to see what was going on, because the elders only came to the castle in time of advice. The last time they were here was after Urias was ambushed. They decided that no elf who is unguided by a palace guard can leave the city walls that will be built and that they will wait and see if the creatures will attack again. This new meeting was totally unexpected, nothing bad had happen. Or had there been a new attack on an elf?  
Knock, Knock, Knock! The council came to order.  
"My dear and noble advisors." began Caius. "I have summoned you all here to discuss the matter at hand. As you all know the dwarf mines have been seized by the enemy. This was found outside the city walls a few days ago." the elven king raised the banner of the city (an eagle holding a flower in its beak and a sword and shield in its powerful claws) along with the banner of the dwarves (an axe crossed with a pick axe), all ripped and torn. There was a silenced whisper among the elders. The young elves left trying to put their king's words out of their head.  
  
"This is horrible!" exclaimed Staria. "With the dwarves' mines under their control those things could harvest mythril, not to mention all the dwarves they would kill."  
"I wonder if those things will try anything at the ceremony tonight?" asked Urias looking puzzled.  
"We better bring our weapons and be on high alert." ordered Laus. Lorriana chuckled. "What's so funny?"  
"You really are your father's son." she said calmly looking at Laus, who was blushing.  
They all laughed. "Ok, Ok." Laus said. "Very cute; now let's go change for the occasion." they all nodded and went to their rooms to change.  
A huge crowd was assembled in the center of the city were a giant tree stood. It had leaves like an oak but they were still green in the middle of winter. Guards surrounded the perimeter of anxious elves, trying to look serious. In the tree was Caius and his two brothers, Caios and Lorrius, they were all looking at the crowd around the magnificent tree. During Kiarianos, which lasted a week all the elves had to lay gifts from their house under the tree so they would be blessed with the powers of good. On the final night each elf gathered around the tree and collected his six belongings when called; this brought good fortune to the elf's house and family. And it always snowed during this holiday, so everything was covered by snow, and this year was no different; it had snowed for six days straight and it wasn't stopping yet (it always stopped exactly at midnight). All the elves were conversing about numerous things waiting for the ceremony to start.  
The murmur of the crowd ended when a large explosion overhead blinded the elves with amazing multicolored rays that surrounded the tree. The rulers of the elves were supposed to sit in the tree so that they were blessed and could rule their race gracefully. The rays disappeared in a flash and everyone started cheering and applauding. The elves were called one by one by the tree; when it selected a bundle of ten items a beam of light shot from its enchanted branches on the objects signaling that elf should come forth and collect his blessed belongings. The entire ceremony lasted for the entire night and enhanced the elf's magic when he stood under the trees rays, so if you trained yourself right your magic would increase every yearl; if you didn't use your magic it would just make you feel extremely refreshed. The young elves came and collected their belongings feeling better than ever their trained magic was now stronger than ever. After they all went they patrolled through the crowd for any danger. The ceremony was now over and all the elves were returning to their comfy dwellings.  
"So what did the council decide father?" asked Laus, joining his father.  
Caius sighed. "We have no choice but to help the dwarfs. They would do the same for us."  
"So when do we attack?" asked an anxious Urias.  
"Don't be so exited." snapped Lorriana.  
"She's right." agreed Braios. "We can't underestimate them."  
"We need some serious magic as well." added Osirian.  
"Yes." agreed Staria. "Those mines are going to be as dark as the night without moon and starts."  
"Plus we need to include the fact that those things might of harvested mythril." said Aril, looking concerned at all these remarks.  
"And you know how those things almost ripped through Caius's mythril coat." added Laus looking at his careless friend.  
King Caius looked at them all, analyzing the facts. "You have chosen your friends well, my son." they all smiled. "If the creatures did harvest mythril, our weapons are still stronger then the metal thanks to the ceremony." They all nodded with a smile on their face. This moment of joy was immediately erased by a guard running towards them.  
"Sire!" the guard said pausing for breath. "Th-they're coming. We saw them at least two thousand of them, flying this way." They all knew what was coming; Osirian activated everyone's mythril armor, including Staria's and Aril's who were now trained to fight as well as their comrades. Braios had his usual armor and sword which were now joined by a shield; made of mythril and with the same designs. They all had this combo of weapons: all made of mythril. They all gasped in amazement.  
"A little something Osirian and I have been working on." said Braios. They all nodded a smile on their young, elven faces. They lowered their visors and were of to the city walls to aid in the battle for their city. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
The young elves ran towards the city's south-eastern wall where the creatures were attacking from. Swords in one hand, shield in the other, their bright mythril armor shining in the night. A line of archers were behind the wall ready to launch their arrows on command. Another line of soldiers stood crouched on the wall, so as not to e hit by any arrows. The evil creatures gave of a fair glow. they had mythril. Damn!  
"Have you noticed that our new earned abilities include telepathic communications." pointed out Urias. They gave it a test and it did in fact work. Good thought, Laus, now they could call on each other if in trouble. It was amazing how their skills increased so much in one year.  
"Let's line up with the soldiers on the wall." the elven prince said. "Fire as soon as you can." they all nodded, pulling out an arrow and taking aim at the swarm of creatures. They waited for about two minutes and then started launching their arrows and seven of the creatures fell dead to the ground.  
"Fire!" yelled Caius. The archers fired their arrows killing many of the creatures. The young elves were shooting fiercely at their evil foes killing them one by one. The creatures now attacked the soldiers with their claws. The soldiers fought back killing the creatures; so far, so good, no casualties yet.  
The elves fought like pack of hungry wolves, helping each other and protecting the city. Osirian was blasting spells at the enemy, obliterating them. Braios was cutting cleanly through his foes, slicing them in half. A swarm of arrows shot towards the city, Lorriana held her hand out and concentrated, sweat running down her face; the arrows stopped in midair and turned around to kill their masters. More and more arrows shot towards the city, and the creatures were trying to take Lorriana out.  
'Cover her!' Urias transmitted telepathically. Osirian put a shielding spell on his friend and returned to taking out his foes. Staria and Aril were doing well, battling back to back and protecting each other.  
Caius, Caios and Lorrius were on the wall helping their comrades. Just then a soldier ran towards them and was shot down with a black arrow. Lorrius ran to him.  
"Their at-t-tacking from the nor." the soldier died in Lorrius' arms.  
  
"To the north! To the north!" Lorrius yelled. A swarm of soldiers ran yelling towards the northern side.  
'Braios, Lorriana and Osirian go to the northern part.' Laus transmitted to his friends. 'Aril, Staria, Urias and I will stay here. Now go!'  
They obeyed and ran towards the north. Here the battle was in the favor of the creatures. The wall was starting to crack; the soldiers could not break the armor of the creatures and they were outnumbered.  
'Osirian, fix the wall, quick!' said Braios. 'Lorriana, hide in the tree and try to divert their arrows.'  
'What are you gonna' do?' asked Osirian murmuring a spell.  
'Goin' to see if any of the other places need help.' Braios answered, and he was off.  
The plan worked fine. Osirian fixed the wall and was now conjuring another spell obviously a very powerful one because it took him five minutes, just to get it fired up; it took another twenty for it to work. In the mean time, Lorriana was doing what she did best: using her psychic powers. She diverted all the arrows and used them to kill numerous enemies.  
  
'Lorriana?' said Osirian's voice in her head. 'I need more power. I'm gonna have to remove your shield.'  
'Go for it.'  
  
Braios was running along the walls until he reached the western side; there the creatures had broken through the wall and were attacking houses. With speed and skill he was famous for, Braios attacked the creatures cutting them into pieces, and saving the houses. He turned towards the creatures who were coming in through the wall; his bow and arrows appeared in front of him and he started shooting away at the invaders. After about five minutes of fierce fighting the brigade of creatures was dead. Now for the tricky part, he was no mage, fixing that wall was no easy task. He closed his eyes and concentrated, his hands started glowing and in seconds became tow orbs of light; he fired one at the spot were the wall was broken and it was fixed instantly. The other was used to heal the courageous young elf.  
'Laus.' he said.  
'Braios?' his friend asked.  
'The western wall was struck down. I fixed it, but those things might come back.'  
'I see. Things over here are going well I'll send some soldiers over.'  
'NO! Don't you get it? That's just what they want us to do. Stay where you are, I think the battle's just beginning.'  
'Ok.'  
  
Urias was chopping away at the creatures surrounding him. Aril and Staria were still back to back and were getting tired. Laus killed a remaining creature and climbed on the wall, cheering soldiers passing him by. He looked out towards the forest; at least a thousand torches were moving through the forest. Braios was right; he though, got to warn the others.  
"Father!" he yelled. "There are thousands of lights in the forest; it isn't over."  
The elven king was shocked. Laus was now concentrating his arms in the air, all the soldiers, including Laus and his friends were healed and ready to fight. They climbed on the wall, arrows ready.  
  
Osirian was surrounded by his cheering comrades. No use for this he thought; he was about to release his concentration, when a voice erupted in his head:  
'NO! Osirian, we still need that.'  
'But it's over.' Osirian responded in surprise.  
'No! Their attacking from the south-east again, thousands of them.'  
"Good thing, Laus healed us." sighed Osirian. He started running towards the south, his spell still clenched in his arms. Braios met him there, and helped him get on the wall. Osirian took aim, letting go slowly.  
"Wait!" bellowed Lorriana. "It could just be a distraction; I don't think those things need torches."  
I wish they would make up their minds; Osirian thought. Lorriana put her hands to her temple and concentrated. She opened them and turned towards them.  
"Those are just decoys." she announced. "Laus and Braios, shoot at the torches. Osirian and Urias come with me quick."  
"I don't think I can make with this thing." said a frustrated Osirian. Lorriana nodded and picked him up with her mind and started running towards the east part of the city. Of course; thought Braios, they were waiting there the whole time.  
Laus put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Let's get 'em!" Braios nodded and summoned his bow and arrows. They started shooting at the torches taking them down one by one.  
  
Lorriana and her two friends reached the eastern perimeter; she sensed about a thousand creatures behind the wall. It was perfect, this was the gate; she could protect her comrades, Urias could open the door and Osirian could blast them as soon as it opened. But the pressure of the spell was too much for Osirian; he couldn't hold on to it any longer. He let the spell fly at the door, and killed about four hundred enemies; he was exhausted. One last spell; he thought, he concentrated and healed himself. Urias was already battling the creatures at the door; Lorriana was shooting them with arrows and Osirian pulled out a long leather strip from underneath his armor, it was read and burned in places. The young drow, mage threw it in the air and yelled: "Draconis!" A huge bright red dragon appeared. Osirian pointed at the creatures and the dragon started attacking them killing thirty at a time. The dragon destroyed another three hundred creatures, before it was finally slain by the enemy. Urias and Lorriana killed about another hundred. This was not good they were pretty tired and drastically outnumbered. Just then, many yells broke the cold night air, hundreds upon hundreds of elven soldiers, led by Laus, Braios, Staria and Aril, and were rushing towards the creatures. The two sides clashed killing their foes, their beautiful elven swords drenched in the black blood of the creatures. Laus and his companions were killing their foes with great speed and agility. In thirty minutes the battle was won; the great elven city of Vianox was safe once more.  
The city was safe and the heroes happy. The entire city was rejoicing, and cheering their great protectors. The battle for Vianox was over but the battle against the evil creatures (now named as Intunerici) was far from over. 


	6. Chapter 6

[Just kept this one short and sweet. Hope you like it.]  
  
Chapter 6  
Early in the morning, the tired soldiers were still cleaning the aftermath of their triumphant battle. The Intunerici had left their mark on the city of Vianox. Many of the creatures' bodies were now lying in piles, waiting to be disposed of. Laus and his companions were helping with the cleanup. They looked very tired, but not depressed, just simply tired. The sky was very gray and it looked like it was going to rain very hard; this would help with cleaning up all the black blood. The elves were very happy about their win, but it did cost them. The count was 437 elves dead and about 600 wounded; the Intunerici had lost the entire fleet that attacked the city (1768). Done! Finally! The tired elves returned to their dwellings for some rest and relaxation. The young elves had changed their clothes and were now climbing fatigued into bed, falling almost instantly asleep. It had been a long night.  
  
The dinning hall was now transformed into a meeting room, were the council of elves was again meeting. They had to think of a way to infiltrate the mines of the dwarves; it would be much harder to attack the creatures in the dark mines. They planned to transfer a large supply of light into a crystal orb and than place that orb in the center of the mines. The problem was no one knew how to get along in the dark mines (except the dwarves of course).They would first have to locate were the dwarves were being held hostage, rescue one of the dwarves who knew the mines well (preferably an older dwarf) and then bring him back safely to the city were he can be healed and interrogated on the design of the mines. The other problem was that dwarves would not easily give up the exact map of their mines; of course the elves thought of this too and decided to save a dwarf that could also fight. So he could guide the elves through the mines. As far as who would go into the mines, that was a no brainer. They would have to be smart, skilled in battle and they would have to have a large knowledge of magic.  
  
The elves were sleeping when the council was making up this plan, not knowing what awaited them. Lorriana and Laus were sleeping together, as were Staria and Osirian and Braios and Aril; Urias of course was still alone. It was 9 AM when the elves went to bed; it was now about 3:30 PM, the elves were slowly waking up. Laus yawned, the storm had been and gone, the city streets lined with marble were shining in the bright sunlight, the fresh laid water adding to the beautiful scenario. Braios was already fully dressed and looking out the window, while everyone else was starting to wake up. He smiled at his sleepy looking friend and came over to his bed.  
"Enjoy it while it lasts." Braios said with a sigh.  
Laus looked extremely confused. Usually when this scene was staged at the opera house, stabs followed. "What so you mean?"  
"There's no reason to tighten your fists I'm not gonna' kill you. Your father just walked in and asked me if we could do him a big favor."  
"So what did he." Urias had just woken up and was yawning in the middle of his question. "say?"  
"Asked us to go into the dwarf mines, and retrieve a dwarf for interrogation." replied Braios, making his friends' jaw drop.  
"That's not cool!" exclaimed Staria. "I've been in those mines, there's a thousand ways you can get lost."  
"Thanks for the moral booster." said Aril looking, sleepy.  
"I can find those dwarves, don't worry." assured Lorriana.  
"Happy, to hear you say that." said Lorrius standing in the doorway. "You are the perfect elves for the job.'  
"Thank you." said Laus, bowing to his uncle.  
"So when do we go?" asked Urias, looking not so enthusiastic.  
"In about a week or two. We still have to train you how to use nocturnal instincts."  
"Never heard of that one before." said Braios, looking curious.  
  
The elves led, by Caios, were walking in a dark room trying to hit targets with arrows and swords. This was training of course. They walked around blindly hitting each other from time to time. Staria was doing very well, using her acute sense of hearing, to listen for any movement. The key was too concentrate only on your hearing; the targets were a pattern in your mind's eye, and only with hearing could you find the pattern in the emptiness. In about a week they finally were able to hit the targets without a problem. They were ready to go into the mines. They had brought only their weapons and armor (the armor was light as a feather, being made out of mythril), and the orb with the light. They had to heal the dwarf instead of bringing it back to Vianox, so they would not waste time. They had also constructed a mythril axe for the dwarf they rescued and Braios couldn't help but making one for everyone else as well.  
They would have to travel by foot because the horses could be killed by the Intunerici or die of hunger or just run off (even though elves were very close to their steeds). They traveled for about three days, when they finally reached the gates of Miaria (the dwarf city and mine). The gates had a small groove in the middle; here the elves placed a small jewel that started glowing once put in its place. A strand of light traveled up the crack in between the two doors, which started opening slowly. They had their weapons ready; ten creatures shot out from the entrance and were instantly struck down by the elves arrows and swords.  
They entered cautiously; many dangers awaited them in the dark mines of Miaria. Their friends and loved ones were behind them, and only darkness was in front. They took about fifty paces forward and were completely veiled in darkness; there nocturnal instincts would have to lead them to success. 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
The elves were creeping slowly in the dark mines. Their nocturnal instincts kicked in. They checked for any life forms with their heat sensing vision (thank you Osama) their eyes glowed red except Briaos', which glowed an eerie white. Nothing that gave off heat, but wait what in the world was this. Two blue objects (in nocturnal vision sight) were shaped like the Intunerici, and what was stranger was that they were moving. A blue, pointed object shot towards the brave elves; they raised their shields and the object, obviously an arrow ricocheted of Staria's shield. This was bad they had to rely completely on their hearing, if they wanted to accomplish anything. They closed their eyes and immediately saw the patter emitted by the creatures Laus drew an arrow, a pattern started disappearing, Braios had already killed one and had drawn his axe. Everyone else drew their swords.  
'We can't afford to be heard.' Braios said, looking at them with his heat vision. They all nodded, their eyes gave off a tremendous amount of heat, so they had done the same.  
'Lorriana, look for the dwarves we'll cover you.' said Laus. 'Form a circle around her.' They all obeyed, guarding their psychic friend. It took about half a minute for Lorriana to find the captives.  
'Got'em!' she said. 'I think I saw the messenger and your party, Aril.'  
Aril sighed with relief. 'What are we waiting for then let's go!' the eager, young, elven princess said. They all nodded and started walking; the dwarves were about ten miles south-west.  
  
King Caius was sitting in his study, in a big comfy arm chair. A bright fire was burning in his fire place, disintegrating the wood and giving off a pleasant amount of heat. Snow was starting to fall again; the city was back to its calm and peaceful self. The elven children were playing happily; the guards were patrolling the walls, stopping to have a sip of home mad wine from time to time. Here and there a few sturdy elves were carrying wood to different places in the palace; the kitchen, or the dinning room and many such places. Other's that had fought in protecting the city were resting at home of doing everyday chores such as gathering wood, or feeding the livestock. The king was pondering, a glass of wine in his hand. He took a sip, put the glass on his desk and returned to staring into abyss. Had he done the right thing? Was it a stupid death sentence for his son and his friends? What could be in those dark mines? He sunk his heavy brow into his palms. There was nothing he could do now; just like the time. he couldn't think about that now. He started to rise when a painting of a beautiful elven madden struck him in the face. He sunk back into his chair, looking horror struck at the tremendous painting. He couldn't help it, he started sobbing, and he walked over to the painting and fell to his knees in front of the painting.  
"There was nothing I could do." he whispered. "I should've fought to find a way. But I didn't."  
His wife was looking at him now, touching his left cheek slowly. The noble king remembered it a flash; it was his wife's last words.  
'I love you all.' a young Laus appeared to Caius' side.  
'I love you too mommy.' the elven child said. The scene disappeared from the king's mind only to be replaced by another, shortly after his wife's death. The confuse Caius was watching his young son climbing a tree, no the ceremonial tree. The child fell, Caius gasped. The young Laus got up, not a scratch on him; it was the day he had discovered his powers. Young elves are very emotional and things like death affect them deeply. Because of his mother's death at in his youth, Laus developed the tremendous healing powers and speed he had today. Speed because of his inability to run; yes when he was young Laus was not able to run and this created a lot of pain in his young mind, to see all the other elven children frolicking through the grass. Healing because of his mother's death and how he thought it was his fault his mother died.  
Lorriana had developed her psychic powers because she watched her pony die and couldn't know what the animal was thinking and if it loved her or not. Osirian and Staria were drows so they had a strong magic in them (Osirian just trained above all standards). Braios had developed his powers to shape and call hence mythril, and his speed, because he had forgotten to pack his father's mythril coat when he left for battle and arrived at the battle sight with the coat at the perfect time to see his father being struck down by an arrow (this happened in a different war). Urias had tremendous strength, though no one knew, because he failed to lift a table off of his infant sister, resulting in her death. Aril had developed an ability to talk to plants and anything that lives (as you shall see), because she suffered so much, because she could not warn trees that a fire was coming, or some one was coming to chop it down.  
  
The elves had walked about a mile, when many blue objects hurtled over them, flying toward another place in the mines. The elven heroes ran to a vague shelter, when one of the Intunerici spotted them and gave off a loud shriek. The others followed him and started rushing towards the elves.  
  
"Time, you guys found out something about me." said Urias, running towards a huge boulder. He lifted the boulder above his head and hurtled it at the creatures killing about three quarters of their group. Osirian held out his arm, made a fist and opened it; a dark orb surrounded the remaining creatures. Osirian closed his fist and so did the orb obliterating the creatures. One of the creatures got away, and started flying towards the direction it came from and escaped. The elves were too busy looking at their friend in amazement that they forgot about their mission.  
'Why didn't you tell us?' asked Aril.  
Urias shook his head and raised his shoulders. He didn't know. 'I guess I just didn't.'  
Everyone looked at him a little disappointed; Aril looked sad. Braios walked over to his loved one and hugged her. 'What's wrong?' he transmitted only to her.  
'I have powers too.' she answered sinking her head into Braios' chest. 'I can communicate with all living things.'  
She announced this to everyone else, and sunk back into Braios' arms. Before anyone could say anything about four hundred creatures came out of nowhere shooting arrows and shrieking menacingly. Braios and Laus were shooting arrows using their great speed. Osirian was throwing dark waves at the Intunerici obliterating them and Staria was doing the same, after all these waves were her specialty. Aril was ready to fire an arrow from her quiver (thank you again Osama, I saw this in your story), when something caught her eye. Little red objects were hanging above the Intunerici. She concentrated and the red objects (bats) started attacking the creatures. They weren't little at all, their wing was as long as grown man's arm and their claws as long as a grown man's fingers. The enormous bats killed the remaining Intunerici and went back to their testing place. They wondered if more would come, and decided not to find out. They walked about five more miles and stopped for a break. Lorriana was checking if they were on the right track; turned out they were about half a mile south of the path they were supposed to take. The others had pulled out a canister that contained a liquid that looked like water but it was so pure that it could hardly be called water. One drop and their thirst was quenched; now for some nice lembas (for those that don't know it's an elvish biscuit that produces a large supply of nutrition) and some rest. They ate the little biscuits, called lembas, each elf having but one, which was a fair enough meal. They sat down on some boulders and relaxed for about half an hour. It had been a long, tiring journey and they were all fatigued, so this rest did them good.  
The group began to walk once more, and walk they did; for about two miles when they were once more attacked by a swarm of Intunerici. This battle was a little bit harder; there were many more creatures than last time, and there were no huge bats or boulders to attack the creatures with. The battle took place on a naturally made platform of rock. Staria and Aril stayed to the back of the platform hitting the creatures with arrows. Laus and Braios used their speed to run through the lines of Intunerici and slice them into pieces; the black oozing blood of the creatures was now infecting the platform. Braios ran from one side of the platform to another; left, right, right, left, right, left, right, right, right, right, right, right, left and done. By the time the elf had reached the other side of the platform he had left a line of dead creatures he had slashed during his sprint; four on his left and nine on his right, they all lay dead, the black ooze pouring slowly on the dark cold rock. Osirian was slicing and obliterating creatures all around him; one of them held out its claws to protect itself but the drow's blade cut right the claws and the rest of the creature's body. Laus was at the edge of the platform; he had just killed an enemy when he noticed a pattern at the base of the long, wide pillar that was suspending the platform. There was about a meter long distance between the edges of the platform and the mine. At the base of this pillar hundreds if not thousand of creatures were chipping away at the rock. This gave him an idea.  
'Osirian!' he cried out telepathically. 'I have an idea; get Lorriana and run towards the edge of the mine over there.' There was a moment's pause when Osirian had grabbed Lorriana and headed towards the edge of the mine. Laus finished killing a foe and he said 'Break the pillar suspending the platform so it'll create hundreds of boulders that will crash on the things bellow. Lorriana, you suspend us in mid air so we don't fall with the platform.'  
'No need to give a full explanation we get it.' said Lorriana extending her arms out. Osirian took careful aim and shot the pillar; it burst into millions of boulders and fell to the gap bellow, the huge platform following. The creatures on the platform used their wings to keep attacking. Braios pulled out his axe and started performing rotating slashes killing the creatures around him. Staria was cutting through the creatures like butter when one snuck behind her; it raised its claws and was ready to kill the elf when an arrow pierced it's skull, spraying blood on the drow girl, who reacted to the disgusting substance and performed a rotating slash, which cut the already dead enemy in half along with a few of it's fellows. Urias was doing fine, slashing and bashing the enemies, killing them as they came. At long last Laus and Braios pulled out an arrow and killed the remaining two. Lorriana brought them to the ledge and they continued their journey. They walked for another hour when they saw small red objects all huddled together around a blue pillar (in nocturnal vision again). A blue object carrying a red, unsteady ball on a stick was walking towards the huddle of dwarves.  
'Crap their gonna' kill them!' Urias exclaimed.  
'We need to save them now.'  
'Staria, Lorriana, Aril and Urias stay behind and cover us. Braios, Osirian and I will rush in and save the dwarves.' There was a brief pause, were they all nodded, and readied their weapons. 'Ready? Go!'  
Braios and Laus rushed in first sprinting through the four corners of the small chamber killing the guards. Osirian obliterated the one with the torch and they all went to help the dwarves. The sound of smashing blades sounded outside, Braios and Osirian ran to aid their friends and Laus stayed behind and freed the captives. Once they were all free he gave one of them his axe, (Braios would be so disappointed, he thought) and went to help his friends. The battle outside was already finished, Laus shot the final arrow at an incoming enemy and went to see if his friends were alright. Lorriana had an arrow piercing her arm; without even thinking, as if it was an instinct, Laus bend over to her pulled out the arrow and touched the wound gently. The elven girl opened her eyes slowly regaining consciousness; she kissed Laus and got up. In the room with the captives the dwarves were helping themselves to a fresh supply of supplies obviously confiscated by the creatures. The king of the dwarves walked over to the group of elves.  
"My dearest thanks." he said bowing to the young elves. Laus returned the bow and presented the young looking (for a dwarf) king the axe they had made especially for him. "Thank you!"  
"We hope you receive this insignificant gift and our services." Laus said. "We want to help you regain your mines and territory. For that we need your guidance, how ever."  
"Anything to be of service." the dwarf said. "With what do you need help exactly?"  
"We need to be taken to the center of the mines, so we can place a magical orb there that will destroy the creatures. It dose this" the elf added, looking at the confused face of the dwarf "By hunting down their fowl blood. It is Osirian's (he said pointing to his friend) spell; he took the blood of the Intunerici and united it with the orb. Once he ignites it the creatures will be dead and your mines will be returned to their rightful rulers."  
"I shall go myself." said the dwarf. Osirian gave the dwarf a mythril coat and pulled out the canister of the pure water, taking a small sip.  
Laus walked over to his friends and instructed them:  
"Osirian, Urias, Aril and Lorriana stay behind, the rest of us will go with the dwarf king."  
Lorriana sighed. "I never get to go."  
"This is important too, you know."  
"Yeah."  
"Next time I promise."  
"Okay."  
"Okay, you ready?" Laus asked. They nodded; Laus held his hand up and all everyone felt rejuvenated. Aril's party walked over to her to see if she was alright. Braios conjured weapons for the former prisoners and rejoined his best friend Laus.  
The party of Laus, Braios, Staria and the dwarf king, named Ginghy, set out to the center of the great mine palace; led of course by Ginghy. This journey was less unfortunate than the elves', they avoided a huge party of Intunerici, thanks to Ginghy's knowledge of the mines and it was also a lot shorter. After about an hour of walking they were finally there, the center was a huge platform. This was were all the plays went on, informed Ginghy; it was lit by a skylight, which let in beautiful rays of sunlight or moonlight. This was now sealed by a huge boulder; about ten Intunerici guards were surrounding the perimeter. The elves took them out using spells and arrows and advanced to the center. Osirian let go of the orb and it started floating, the drow tapped it with his sword and the mines erupted in light, obliterating every source of Intunerici.  
  
The mines were free once more, the dwarves were reunited and the brave elves were on their way home. Another victory for the elves; the next would be the greatest one. Attacking these creatures on their home ground would be quite the challenge. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
It had been almost a week since the young elven heroes had returned from their adventures in the mines of Miaria. The dwarves dubbed them lords of Miaria and gave them all gifts in return for their services. Laus received mythril helmet, Braios received a spear, with an aluminum handle (as in the long pole like part) with a mythril head (that had hooks on both sides). Staria received a magnificent black gown; Osirian received a pouch of blue dust, which was supposed to cast invisibility on the person it was used on. Urias received a double headed axe (normally this would be too heavy for a normal person to hold, but Urias had amazing strength); Lorriana an orb that looked like an eye, and with it she could tap into unseen forces and see what was going on in other parts of the world. Aril received a golden crown, lined with silver and it had many diamonds of all types in it. Since their return the elven army of Vianox was preparing to invade the creatures that attacked their homelands. The dwarfs of course were helping, supplying a large number of foot soldiers, 1000 to be exact. The elves had about 1000 foot soldiers and 900 archers, which would fight in this final battle.  
The young elves were now practicing magic, at the range they often went to. Osirian and Staria were trying to teach them how to manipulate the obliterating waves they had mastered so well. They were practicing on the marble dummies; all the untrained elves could do was slightly cracking the dummies from time to time. It wasn't their fault it just needed a lot of practice; it took Osirian about a year to master this technique and that was an all time record. Finally towards the end of the week Urias was able to break the lifeless targets into small pieces. It was still so cold; everything was still asleep, awaiting spring. The range was usually completely empty with the exception of the young elves. For one reason it was so cold your teeth would crack and second the elves were afraid of being ambushed by the evil Intunerici. Few elves left the city's boundary lines; elven men would go in parties to collect wood, so they would not be attacked. Of course Laus and his friends had dealt with thousands of the creatures, not even a goblin would be as stupid as to attack them.  
Another month passed and it was now February, the elves were still going to the range every morning to practice different techniques and challenge each other. Braios and Laus were tied at this event; so naturally the only way to settle it would be for them to fight each other. Braios armored himself from head to toe, as did Laus with his dwarf made helmet. They drew their swords, and were now standing in a defensive stance, shields in front of them. The battle began in a heart beat, the two magnificent warriors rushed sprinted towards each other their swords clashing. Braios attacked first, but Laus defended with his own sword; Braios jumped back and rushed in again, Laus blocked with his shield this time and thrusted his sword at Braios, who spun around blocked the blow with his sword and used his shield to knock Laus off balance. Laus performed a cartwheel to regain balance; they returned to their defensive position, shields in front. Now Laus attacked using his shield to push Braios off balance; Braios jumped to the side and slashed to his right as hard and as fast as he could. Blood stained the snow Laus fell face first in the snow but quickly got up, the pain was enormous the frost added to the limpness in his mind and nerves. Braios' sword was coming to meet him; the elven prince knocked the sword away and attempted to knock his opponent of balance using his foot. Braios performed a backwards cartwheel to remain balanced; Laus rushed at him again slicing from side to side. This continued for about a minute then Braios knocked his friend's sword out of the way and stabbed Laus in the stomach; Laus was in so much pain he wished he would just die and get it over with. Something was shining in the snow and then was covered by blood. his blood. He looked up and saw Braios' open chest; he attempted to stab him in the chest but got his stomach instead. The shock came first worse than the pain; how did this happen he had let his guard down. The pain was piecing the elf's body his arms and knees were trembling; still had one last chance, he drew the sword from his dying friend and put it next to his throat.  
"Y-y-yooou w-win." Said Laus falling to his side the cold frosty snow would have stung his face so hard he would have jumped to his feet. Today he didn't feel this small insignificant pain; Braios fell on his back attempting to concentrate. His body glowed and his wound started healing, he rose in a sitting position, in front of him the limp body of his comrade started to glow and he jumped to his feet, the wound healed. Laus cheeks exploded when his wound was healed and he regained full conciseness. He helped Braios get up and they all went back to the city to rest.  
  
The next day all the troops, elves and dwarves were assembled in the city. Lorriana was using her orb to draw a map of the landscape around the creatures' home land; barren waste land would have been more precise. They set up a plan to set up the archers on the giant boulders, for better accuracy. They marched for about a day, stopping for rest; the next day they reached the deserted place, and everyone got into position without a problem. The creatures were assembled around a huge mountain, and were feasting at the moment on what looked like a troll.  
"This is the mountain of the orcs." observed Caios, who had fought the orcs in a previous war. That explained the troll; many rotting corpses of orcs and goblins lay on the dead field in front of the mountain fortress.  
  
Suddenly an Intunerici turned its head around and saw the mass of enemies; it gave a loud shrill shriek that froze the very marrow in your bones and made your spine tingle. Its comrades started shrieking as well; the sky darkened, showing that these creatures had some magic of their own. The dark creatures took flight and started firing arrows at the elves; Lorriana used her powers too stop the arrows and shoot them back at the creatures. More creatures started flying towards the army of elves and dwarves and were instantly shot down by the archers. Laus, Braios and their friends were on horseback, but they aided the archers either way; Osirian had put a spell on all their weapons, making them come back incase they lost them somehow. Urias hurled his double headed axe at the swarm of angry creatures; the weapon acted like a boomerang and returned to it's master's hand. The arrows fired earlier returned to their quiver, to be fired again. The creatures had now broken through past the mass of arrows and were battling the foot soldiers. The dwarves and elves battled fiercely; a mass of the creatures' black ooze was all over the battle field in a few moments. Lorriana and Staria climbed to where the archers were stationed to help out. Lorriana would stop any arrows and Staria was obliterating the creatures. Laus, Braios, Urias, Osirian and Caius and his brothers were in the middle of the battle, killing the creatures as they came to attack. Lorrius was probably the fiercest one; killing any creature in sight. Braios' horse was struck down and he'd now had to fight on foot; the creatures would have wished they had never killed the horse. First of all Braios loved his horse like a brother and second of all he was better on foot than on horse back. He started sprinting through the lines of enemies cutting them in half; soon he was completely surrounded. Laus tried to get to him but had to fight his way through the mass of creatures on top of him; suddenly the pile exploded limbs of Intunerici went flying every where. Braios' armor now had spikes the length of your leg; his power to manipulate mythril sure came in handy that time. The elf was covered in the ooze he got up and started chopping the enemies like onions; only they were the ones crying. Laus was fighting fiercely as well; wherever he found an injured soldier he would fight his way through and try to heal him. The dwarves had to be the most robust creatures in the world; they were only up to the waist of one of the creatures but that didn't stop them from deteriorate the enemies' numbers.  
  
Urias was helping at the rear; the creatures were now surrounding the foot soldiers from both sides. He and Osirian rushed there to help the soldiers; here the battle wasn't going well. Many elf and dwarf bodies lay at the clawed feet of the creatures; Ginghy was completely surrounded when they got to him. The two elves helped push back the Intunerici, slicing through and helping any outnumbered soldier; soldiers from the front that had not gotten a through to the Intunerici were now running to the rear, their cries striking terrors into the misfortunate creatures. The rear was now almost secure the creatures had killed many but had lost all their lives in return. The soldiers now rushed to aid the front; those that noticed went to help the archers.  
  
Here the battle was by far the worst; the creatures had gotten to the archers and were now killing them. The archers did all they could but were surrounded from the back, the front and the air. Many were killed by the giant claws or thrown off to be devoured by the hungry Intunerici. Laus was now thrown off his horse as well and went to fight the archers, being quickly followed by Braios. Aril was still helping in the front section; an arrow pierced her chest, breaking only the armor; she pulled it out and concentrated. The forest around the battle field aroused in howls; thousands of wolves rushed in attacking the creatures that had killed their masters (the orcs). The elves and dwarves cheered their usual enemies and were now fighting with a greater moral. Laus arrived on the cliff were the archers were once settled; about 400 of them were still alive and fighting with all their heart. Laus got ready to sprint, but was beaten to the punch by Braios who rushed past him and started chopping these foes as he did the others. Something was very different about the elf now, something only his closest friends had ever seen. Braios was furious; his eyes were now and his teeth clenched tight. He was yelling and bellowing when he was fighting; he conjured his spear and started killing the airborne foes. Laus was now launching as many arrows as he could at the nearest creature, while Staria was launching hundreds of huge obliterating waves at the Intunerici.  
  
The king of Vianox was still on horse back he pulled back for a second to catch his breath, a few wolves ran past him. He launched himself back into battle his sword, shield and armor were now almost black from the black ooze. About ten creatures flew at him and knocked him of his horse; they were all over him and were now stabbing him trying to get to his flesh. He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and was slowly being punctured by more sharp claws and teeth. Caius was slowly loosing consciousness, his life flashing before him; his noble blood was spilling all over. Two swords and a lance were now killing the fiends that were killing the king, a third sword came in and a few arrows. Laus bent over him and touched his wound, the warm, red liquid pouring over his fingers; Lorrius, Caios and Braios were looking down at their king. More creatures came and were immediately dispensed of; the king of the elves suddenly regained consciousness and jumped to his feet. The wolves were now howling over the corpses they had killed and lost, they returned to their forest, leaving the battle in the hands of their former hated enemies. The elves and dwarves were pushing the creatures back to the sharp rocks of their own home, stepping over their brave fallen comrades. Not one soldier remained alive without a wound, except perhaps Laus and his group of great elven heroes. The last couple of Intunerici attempted to retreat and were shot down by the elven archers. The soldiers were cheering over their hard won victory, when a dark terrifying roar broke the silence. This was unlike anything they had heard before; most of them were knocked down by the earsplitting sound waves.  
  
"Defensive positions! Defensive positions!" yelled the elven generals. The soldiers all obeyed and took a defensive stance. Laus concentrated and healed all of them; some that were fatally injured and had stayed down waiting to die now got up and rejoined their comrades. Another terrifying roar broke the silence making boulders fall of the mountain; the soldiers stayed on their feet.  
  
'Arrows out, everyone.' ordered Laus, to his friend. Braios reinforced them with mythril, now that he had regained his calmness. A large cave opening blew out a large amount of hot air and bones with it; the entrance burst open and a giant creature flew out, landing behind the line of soldiers. It was huge; about the size of two dragons, its back was covered in huge spikes, and it had claws the length of five horses, as were its fangs. It let another roar that knocked the soldiers clear off their feet. A swarm of arrows were launched at the creature, creating an annoying amount of pain to this giant. Osirian already had a spell ready and let go of it just before the creature roared; the devastating spell missed and hit the creature in its right leg. It howled in pain and rushed at the soldiers; the terrified troops scattered and the creature crushed a few before it was hit in the back of the head by many arrows.  
  
Braios was now running as fast as he could at the creature, he jumped and stuck his lance in the things neck and it went about half way through. The creature had never faced such a dangerous little foe or so much pain. Laus was now firing away, hitting behind the ears and any other soft spot he could find; he still couldn't see the eyes. Osirian was trying to think of something that would kill the creature; he didn't have enough energy left for another spell like the last one. He made up his mind and pulled out three dragon skins; they were longer than the one he had used before and they glowed a fiery red.  
  
"Draconis!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Three huge red dragons appeared on the scene. 'Attack it!' the drow thought; and the dragons obeyed they rose high into the air and blew fire all over the creature that was twice their size and ten times as fierce. The creature was getting very annoyed; these little creatures had stung it and now these red things were burning it.  
  
It rose on its hind feet; Braios' hooked spear was still deep in its neck along with its master. The elf had to think of something to kill this thing; there was only one way. He concentrated large mythril spikes pointed skyward rose from his armor; he know concentrated on his spear's mythril tip. The spear skyrocketed through the giant's neck dragging the spiked Braios with it; it came out on the other side, leaving a huge gap in the thick neck. Braios landed on his back; he looked up to see two dragons toasting the creature. On the ground a third dragon was being killed by the creatures giant claws; now arose a new problem the dying. whatever it was collapsing. Crap! Thought Braios he quickly got up and started running away from the creature. Boom! The body fell to the ground and the soldiers were propelled upward by the incredible force. The dragons were now feasting on their kill.  
  
Thousands of cheers and howls broke out around the battle field. No one had ever had time to look at this victory's consequences. So many dwarf, elf, wolf and Intunerici bodies lay everywhere. Laus, Braios, Osirian, Urias, Staria, Aril, and Lorriana met in the middle of the great battle field, hugging and congratulating each other. Caius met with his brother Lorrius; they found Caios' body next to huge piles of Intunerici. They held many honorary elf and dwarf funerals; Ginghy had made it out alright and was now talking about the courage of their combined armies. The elves had lost 547 archers and 470 foot soldiers; the dwarfs had lost 678 soldiers.  
  
Everyone in Vianox and Miaria were mourning their losses, but were soon cheered up by the feasts held in honor of the soldiers and in name of their victory. The war was finally over and everyone could rest at ease.  
  
Author's note:  
The elves of Vianox were never plagued by the Intunerici again and were all able to return to their humble everyday lives once the war was done.  
King Caius lived to see a great prosperous kingdom and a magnificent son and daughter in-law. Yes, Laus married Lorriana shortly after the war was won and they had two daughters and a son; Braios married Aril and Braios became the prince of the high elves and they had two sons. Osirian married Staria and had three daughters and three sons and Urias found his mate in life (named Ukiasa) and they had a daughter. Lorrius married Fajina and they had four sons and two daughters.  
  
And sorry about the whole paragraph misshape I don't know what happened to my word thingy. 


End file.
